Bryan Singer on the X-Men Universe, Timelines, and Bringing Cyclops and Jean Grey Back

Bryan Singer is currently out and about promoting his upcoming fantasy “Jack the Giant Slayer”, but of course all anyone wants to talk about is “X-Men: Days of Future Past”, the “X-Men” sequel/prequel sequel that he’s directing this year for a 2014 release.

The big question on most people’s minds, even comic book fans, I’d imagine, is how will Vaughn’s “X-Men: First Class” film line up with the “X-Men” trilogy that Singer was a very important part of for two films, and was completed with 2006’s “The Last Stand” (directed by Brett Ratner, who took over for Singer after he jumped ship to direct Warner’s “Superman Returns”).

In an interview with IGN, Singer didn’t seem especially interested in dissing Ratner’s “Last Stand” (and in fact says that the two are friends). Then when asked about any desires he may have about bringing Cyclops and Jean Grey back from the the dead (the two characters having died in “Last Stand”), he gave this curious answer:

Who wouldn’t? Who wouldn’t? That’s all I can say.

And then there’s this about the film’s different settings and timelines:

The majority of it…or that part of it, takes place in the early 70’s, 1973. So Nixon is a character, and there will be different styles and automobiles. And there will be some futuristic, as well as retro, technology which you haven’t seen. There are science fiction aspects of the movie, and then there’s some retro science fiction that the X-Men films haven’t had quite yet. So we’re exploring that, which will be fun. And there’s an attitude [difference]. We discover our characters, particularly the younger characters, at a different place in their lives. Every character you discover in this movie is in a completely different place than you’ve ever seen, emotionally, and it’s about them moving through that.

Sounds like with the film’s time traveling angle, possibilities of different timelines, and all that sci-fi whatchamacallits, things might get a bit messy. I suspect that at the end of the day, Fox’s “X-Men” franchises (the original trilogy, the prequels, and the Wolverine films) will have to rely on the go-to “different timelines” explanation for why they don’t seem to, well, jive with one another.

I could be wrong, of course, and they might all fit into one neat little universe like Marvel’s films. Doubtful, but I guess anything’s possible.